I turned on the television one morning to get the weather forecast and I hit the Regis-Kelly show. My attention was caught by Regis’ exclamation,” Five hundred thousand dollars for two weeks?” He appeared he could not believe what he was reading in the New York morning paper. It developed that it was a news item about a lady who rented a luxury suite at The Hampton for half a million dollars for two weeks. The paper showed the picture of a good looking woman who said that she wanted to meet the right people. She believes The Hampton is the right place to find them.
Regis Philbin, a celebrity who earns millions was amazed that such an amount would be spent to be at such a place for two weeks. And here, I was listening to the news, I thought I earned a good pay when I was still working, I grossed that amount in ten years of teaching.
What can half a million dollars buy? That is enough for a comfortable home for a family. It will be sufficient to buy truckloads of food for the Daily Break Food Bank, or enough for the university education of two young people. A couple who retires with that amount in the bank would not worry about old age. I can think of hundreds of things a half million dollars can buy that would ease the day to day headaches of many families.
I was raised by a grandmother who taught me that it was a sin to leave food uneaten in one’s plate. “God gave you that blessing to have food and you are throwing it away.” I remember that statement all my life. You only get what you can eat. That is why I often find it difficult to accept the waste that I witness in everyday life here around us. I save leftovers which I am forced to throw away after three days. I have some clothes that I still wear which are fifteen years old. It has been only lately that I have learned to down-size my wardrobe because it has become too crowded and laden.
We are all creatures of habit and I imagine that the lady who spent half a million dollars for two weeks in a luxurious accommodation is used to such extravagance that she could do such a gesture with ease. Either she inherited old money or is one of the novo rich who accumulated wealth easily.
Still, how we handle money is a matter of upbringing. We have come across people or have heard or read about them, who have remained frugal in spite of all the wealth they have accumulated. We can name people who squander millions on yachts, poker tables, drugs and other excesses in life. A number of them died young through those excesses.
Others use wealth to have access to power and find pleasure in bringing pain to the oppressed. Then there are those who use wealth for philanthropic goals. They live simple lives and spend their money in combating diseases and hunger around them. Many of these philanthropists achieve their missions quietly and avoid publicity.
It is very soul-satisfying to learn how some individuals and groups have made money go a long way to help the needy especially the children around the world.
With as little as thirty dollars a month, we can support a child in developing countries to live a healthful life and obtain an education. That is just a dollar a day which is less than what we pay for a cup of coffee. By economizing on those little things in everyday life or by not buying a new blouse or a pair of shoes, we can contribute in alleviating the miseries of a child somewhere in the world.
How we handle money can be used as a model for the young. If the next generations see how we spend money wisely, then they would not demand as much as they do whenever something new appears in the market. The way technology invents (or rather improves) new telephones, cameras, music appliances and other gadgets now and then and makes a big splurge in advertisements for such things, the temptation to change what we already have is so great that it really needs considerable self-control to prevent one from accessing the newest production. Buying the newest one means throwing away what we are using at present no matter how usable it still is.
Appliances are creating a problem in waste disposal which is a headache of the eco-friendly environment,
If we try to lessen the demand, then we shall not have the supply.
Of course one can argue that spending is needed to make the economy grow. But we have also seen that uncontrolled spending eventually leads to a recession or depression. Everything should be done with temperance in mind.
It is often said that money cannot buy happiness. But it can in many ways when it is used to obtain satisfaction not only for ourselves but also for those around us. Money can bring happiness if it is used as our slave, not when it makes a slave of us. And this last statement has still to be qualified. If money is our slave we have to be a magnanimous master who would use it not just for our own self but for the satisfaction of others as well.